Connective Tissue VI

The lightning-scorched tree spreads her boughs and takes root in the pond.

I’ve become enamoured of her. When soaked through, her broken trunk looks wounded, as if she’s just finished bleeding. I don’t know if she is dioecious or monoecious, but I have made her female. She seems to part her legs and bend her torso to drink.

The council cleaned her up, pulled branches from the pond, built a new bridge to skirt her, new railings for her to lean against. She’s much more tamed now, without being entirely subdued, yet in certain lights, as the sun slowly sets, she still appears monstrous, like Medusa rising from the lagoon.

There are moments when the desire sweeps over me to drop to my knees, hold her brokenness and pray for her, beg her for forgiveness.

#MoreThanHuman #WritingTheLandscape #WomenAndMyth